Monday, November 23, 2015

Taiwan: 100 MW Geothermal Power Plant Project Questioned

A geothermal power plant project proposing to drill geothermal wells thousands of meters deep in Yilan County received mixed criticism during the project’s environmental review yesterday, with experts saying the project is ill-planned and technically unfeasible.

Headed by anti-nuclear activist and National Taiwan University professor Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎), the project proposes drilling 10 geothermal wells 6km deep in Lize (利澤) in Yilan County’s Wujie Township (五結) to set up a power plant with a capacity of 100 megawatts, which could generate about 867 million kilowatt-hours per year, making it the largest thermal power station in the nation.

During the project’s geologic safety assessment meeting yesterday, in which drilling experts and interested parties were invited to participate, local business owner Chang Ping-he (張平和) said that the development could cause ground subsidence, as it would remove a large amount of soil at a geologically unstable sandy structure, adding that the developer has not communicated with local businesses and residents to clarify the risks involved.